Prosecutors were on solid ground for deal with F. Glenn Miller Jr.

It’s an odd day when racist websites and a U.S. senator are pitching the same issue. That’s the surreal world Sen. Jerry Moran entered by raising questions about a nearly 30-year-old plea bargain agreement with Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., the racist anti-Semite better known as F. Glenn Miller Jr. charged with the April murders of a doctor and his grandson at Overland Park’s Jewish Community Center and a mother of three at Village Shalom.

It’s an odd day when racist websites and a U.S. senator are pitching the same issue.

That’s the surreal world Sen. Jerry Moran entered by raising questions about a nearly 30-year-old plea bargain agreement with Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., the racist anti-Semite better known as F. Glenn Miller Jr. charged with the April murders of a doctor and his grandson at Overland Park’s Jewish Community Center and a mother of three at Village Shalom. Moran sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder questioning the deal cut with Miller in exchange for cooperation in cases the government was pursuing against other white supremacists.

Basic facts undercut much of Moran’s hypothesis.

“Americans can only wonder if Frazier Glenn Miller’s alleged 2014 crimes might have been prevented if he had been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in 1987,” reads Moran’s letter.

Douglas McCullough prosecuted Miller and was involved in the deal that recommended a five-year sentence. McCullough is now a North Carolina appeals court judge.

“Even if you tried to boxcar all the sentences together, it wouldn’t have led to more than 10 or 15 years,” McCullough said. And that’s even if he had pleaded guilty to every charge, including possessing hand grenades and mailing a threatening letter.

McCullough said Miller faced “a credible threat” for cooperating. That would have made him eligible for being recommended for the witness protection program, another issue Moran raised.

“White supremacists are perfectly capable of killing a person who has been snitching on them. That has been demonstrated over and over,” McCullough said.

Moran also questions how carefully Miller was monitored after his release. That’s a stronger question. Problem is, it’s not a crime to hate.

Consider the posts of some who are also chastising McCullough. On sites frequented by followers of Aryan beliefs, it’s alleged the judge has overvalued Miller’s cooperation, including his information on a triple murder. Some writers are also miffed because the judge has discussed an incident where Miller was found by police with a black male prostitute dressed as a woman.

Anyone can post racist, anti-Semitic and anti-government screeds. But predicting who will turn violent, especially decades later, quickly becomes a manpower and constitutional issue. Unfortunately it’s a huge challenge for which no one has cracked the code.